Trier

2nd World Conference of the Association for Borderlands Studies - Panel

The societal events of the last decade have challenged Border Studies more than ever before. This can be seen not only in the field’s growing institutionalisation but also in its developments in research: these include the relativization of geopolitical perspectives by cultural studies approaches, the spatialisation of the border concept (e.g. zone, third space, exter/internalisation etc.), the decentralisation of the border in favour of processes (e.g. b/ordering, othering etc.), the pluralisation of the border concept (e.g. walls, differences, (dis)continuities, demarcations) or the complexification of the border (e.g. scapes, textures). The panel is treating these developments and other turns as an opportunity for a long-overdue self-examination, which in the light of the resurgence of borders seems necessary from both a societal and scientific perspective.

2nd World Conference of the Association for Borderlands Studies - Panel

In view of the current political developments in Europe, the scientific study of borders has increasingly gained importance. Cultural Studies has reacted to these developments by generating complex and more and more detailed theories and tools for describing and analyzing border phenomena. Cultural border studies champion approaches which do not examine spatial, material, temporal or cultural aspects in isolation but investigate their intersectional and performative interactions. This panel provides a space for explorative investigation of potential approaches for cultural border studies, focusing on interactions between material and immaterial manifestations of the border.

The 16th International Conference on Migration take place the 23–25th of June 2016 in innsbruck/Austria. This year, the conference will discuss the concept of generation in the context of migration, and will also examine the use of the concept of genera-tions in empirical research and in public discourse. Likewise of central concern here is to view the phenomenon of migration from an inter-generational perspective and to ask to what extent this can contribute to a better understanding of migration.